Analysis: 5 Keys to Seahawks Victory as Seattle Travels to Denver for Thursday Night Battle
Heading to Denver for the first time since 2018, the Seahawks hope to right the ship after a tough loss to the 49ers just four days ago. How can Seattle exit with a big road win on Thursday night?
Seeking a bounce-back win to stay within striking distance in the ever-competitive NFC West on short rest, the Seattle Seahawks will take their show back on the road for a Thursday Night Football duel with the Denver Broncos.
Seattle is still licking its wounds after a 32-29 loss to San Francisco on Sunday that included four turnovers and 21 points off of those turnovers, dropping the defending champions to 3-2. Denver overcame a sluggish first half to eek out a 23-17 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, improving to 3-2 on the season with hopes of building momentum after an up-and-down first four games.
Looking at Thursday's prime time battle, what must the Seahawks accomplish to earn a massive road win in the Mile High City?
1. Force the Broncos to respect the run game, utilize speed options as much as possible out of the backfield.
Turnovers obviously plagued the Seahawks more than anything last weekend in their loss to the 49ers, but the running back group played a major role in that problem with fumbles. Beyond putting the ball on the ground deep in Seattle's own territory and setting up San Francisco for gift-wrapped touchdowns, they were rendered ineffective as rushers all afternoon. Emanuel Wilson and George Holani combined to rush for under 70 yards and less than three yards per carry, allowing the 49ers to spit on the run and apply relentless pressure on Sam Darnold to a tune of five sacks.
While the 49ers came into Sunday with one of the NFL's better run defenses, the same cannot be said for the Broncos. Vance Joseph's group has been gashed on the ground so far in 2026, yielding the fourth-most rushing yards per game (145.2) and eighth-worst yards per carry (4.7) in the league. Denver has been especially vulnerable defending the edge against speed, allowing 173 rushing yards to former Seahawks starter Ken Walker III in the opener and a couple big runs to 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel two weeks ago.
With Walker now in Kansas City and rookie Jadarian Price on injured reserve, Seattle has been lacking explosive juice out of the backfield as of late and only has two runs of 20-plus yards all season. One of those came courtesy of receiver Rashid Shaheed, who ripped off a 28-yard touchdown in a win over the Los Angeles Chargers. Offensive coordinator Brian Fleury would be wise to implement Shaheed as part of the run game again on Thursday, while rookie Robert Henry Jr. should get his first crack to show his game-changing big play ability after being signed off Washington's practice squad and being a healthy scratch last weekend.
